During one of the very crucial projects, Riya had an opportunity to work with the top HR consultants who had flown down from the US to India for a very specific Human capital project.

This particular assignment gave her leverage and rich experience to work for the first time with a key team that was about to change the trajectory of the entire organization.

She made the most of it and gathered learning as much as she could.

The Other.

Along with Riya in the given project, she also had a senior leader from India who was not her direct supervisor, but being senior and in the hierarchy, let us call her Meera, was involved in the project.

The problem was -that Meera and Riya never got along well, and for some very vague reasons, Meera always tried to find fault with Riya’s work and create obstacles that were both unnecessary and of no relevance to the work they were doing together.

As a result – they both got enmeshed in a series of unspoken conflicts, from meetings to emails, it was apparent everywhere. The cold vibes were apparent and were easily sensed by their foreign counterparts. 

The Stakeholders & Consequence.

While the present project was equally complex with a murky power game, since it has the big shots at the helm of it, in addition to it, their individual conflicts, made the entire situation more complex and cumbersome for both.

The project lasted for six months, but their respective assignments were cut short for three months. Not only that, but none of them were also involved in the next phase of the project, and soon they were back to their respective roles and jobs.

As emerging leaders, both Riya and Meera had missed out on a golden opportunity despite giving their best shot at a very complex project.

Had they approached the entire issue with an approach of leveraging the opportunity for their advantage, they would have had a golden chance of onsite work and also being part of a key project that included deep learning and experts in it.

There are times in our careers when we are blessed with golden opportunities. During that phase, one needs to think beyond the trivial, the short term, rather than stay focused on the long run, which can very easily open up doors for new avenues and solid career growth.

Our Work together; at an Individual level

As a coach to both of them, while their issue was the same, the solution called for two distinct programs, something I realized from the narrative work I did with each one of them on a separate basis.

What I found…

Meera and Riya are like you and me, emerging women leaders but mired by their own set of unresolved emotional challenges, which then cascade down to the workspace and manifest themselves in many ways, ranging from work performance to stakeholder behaviors to a faulty mindset, eventually landing into a quagmire of power dynamics, which is very difficult to navigate. 

Actually, there are no right or wrong answers to what each one of them did, but there is a sweet spot that each one of them missed. 

So,

Just like both of them, if you think, you do not want to miss out on growth opportunities, you can start here to book your FREE strategy session, and we take it on from there.

What say?

© Mehnaz Amjad 2017-2024

Mehnaz Amjad | Coach
Hyderabad, India